The Brief
In January 2018, Stratum Constructions came to us with the exciting opportunity to assist them in improving their residential development’s brand, and creating a web presence that would attract their audience, and generate leads for the sales team. The development was very new, and had only just evolved to a stage where they were ready to start making land sales.
However, the team felt that the brand identity was not hitting the mark, and that the website they had created themselves was lacking the content and user experience required to be taken seriously by prospects. Before launching to the public, they wanted to attend to these issues, and go to market with a refreshed look and feel, and a website that would deliver against objectives.
The Process
The first step was a methodical audit of the existing brand assets, and website, to develop a set of recommendations.
The first element that we identified for change was the revision of the name from Cedar Ridge Estate, to simply, Cedar Ridge. The “Estate” title, whilst still relevant for the more mature segments of the audience, lacked the sense of contemporary country living that Stratum Constructions were aiming for.
With the target customers in mind, we worked with our graphic designer to develop a set of brand personality traits that clearly represented the value proposition for the brand, and appeal to the two key segments of the target audience: first home buyers and tree-changers with a female-focus. The development is situated in the quaint country town of Ellalong, in the heart of Hunter Valley wine country, with large, acreage style lots, and offers a modern, rural lifestyle, with an emphasis on space, the native Australian bushland, sophisticated lifestyle, and modern conveniences.
Our audit of the existing website uncovered a range of areas to improve, including interface design, content enhancement, and user experience optimisation. We commenced with a mapping of the optimal site structure to align with the customer journey. Then we applied our copywriting services to the new structure with a focus on SEO and lead generation for the sales team.
The Result
Hence, our graphic designer delivered a brand identity design incorporating colours, shapes and textures that embody a fresh, young, yet natural and rural personality. Stratum Construction immediately went to work applying the new brand identity across it’s assets such as site signage, social media, and online listings.
We worked to apply the brand to a new website design and structure, bringing a fresh, vibrant appeal to the product.
Content on the site was carefully optimised not only to achieve great onsite conversion to enquire, but also the highest possible search engine rankings. Since going live organic search has represented the largest of all traffic sources, at 38%.
Stratum Constructions have also worked hard in-house with social media and other local promotional activity to raise the profile of the development, and drive traffic to the website. Traffic from social media channels has represented 17%, with 29% coming direct, and 16% from referral sources.
As a result of the well optimised site, the activity Stratum Constructions have engaged in, and a proactive sales team, they have made quick progress towards achieving their sales targets.
